Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to begin by congratulating Dr Webster, the member for Mallee, for bringing this motion to this place and drawing the attention of the parliament to the very significant and important work that the Country Women's Association does right across the nation.

Like other members in this place who represent rural, regional and remote communities, my electorate is blessed with very many branches of the CWA working across all fields, and, on reflecting on this motion, I thought I could refer to one effort which I think is emblematic of the work that the CWA does across the nation. This work doesn't take place in my electorate; it's actually at the Royal Adelaide Show. The Royal Adelaide Show is, as you'd expect, a bustling hive of activity, where people are very busily getting on with having the fund that's associated with show endeavours. There's the type of food which we all shouldn't be consuming—there's the fairy floss, the sweets and the fried fare. Amongst all that chaos of activity, there's one sanctuary. That sanctuary, for as long as I can remember, has always been the CWA Country Cafe.

This is a place where, amongst all that bustling activity at the Royal Adelaide Show, you are met by friendly volunteers from branches across the state, where you can eat some home-cooked, hearty fare. It's a place where you can pause for a moment over a cup of tea and inevitably some home-cooked traditional scones. In that chaos that is the Royal Adelaide Show, there's just this quiet sanctuary.

I think that's emblematic of the work that the CWA does across my electorate, with volunteers coming together to support each other but, more broadly, to support the community. There is obviously a long tradition with cooking of a homely nature and high quality, and that happens at the Country Cafe as well. There is also an opportunity for people to pause and reflect on what's important in the context of a very busy and stressful world.

In addition to that, I would reflect on the fact that there is, increasingly, another role undertaken by the Country Women's Association that we wouldn't traditionally identify with the association. That role principally is in advocacy. As someone who came to this place seven years or so ago, I hadn't fully appreciated how much significant advocacy and agency is undertaken through the work of the CWA. I'm regularly contacted by the CWA about better health services for regional Australians and better telecommunications and connectivity and about issues relating to remote schooling. So, whilst we all immediately associate the CWA with scones, craft fairs and getting together and discussing issues in local communities, increasingly I'm noticing a push into the world of advocacy—and it's incredibly powerful.

The other phenomenon I have seen in my electorate which I'm really pleased to see is the demographic change in the CWA. Increasingly, young regional women are getting involved in this organisation. That's a shift that's occurred in, I'd suggest, the last decade. In particular, there's one branch of the CWA in my electorate in Naracoorte which are all young mums. They work alongside the longstanding traditional branch, but they have formed their own sub-branch. They do that because they are interested in working together on matters that are relevant to them.

To the volunteers of the CWA in my electorate, I say thank you very much for everything you have done over the long course. You're a testament to the resilience of regional Australians. You work very hard to ensure we have that resilience. When I reflect on the very good work you do in my electorate, I look to the example at the Royal Adelaide Show. I go there every year with my children, and I see there the good work and the agency that you do across South Australia and, by extension, across our nation. I think it is a great example of the very best of what the WA does.

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